Sports Page
by f.f. lindy
Summary: When the perfect headline shows up it's hard to ignore


Title: Sports Page  
  
Author: f.f. lindy  
  
Date: 6/03  
  
Disclaimer: They aren't mine, neither was Barbie, but it hasn't stopped me yet.  
  
Notes: This one is for Jordan, because I'd never be brave enough to tell him the way that I feel, and it's always nice to dream.  
  
"Fine, if you don't want to come, don't. Just don't sit around here and whine about what you don't want to do. I bust my ass to get this stuff and bust my ass to solve it. You don't need to give me a ration of shit for doing what I have to do." He stormed out of the office, slamming the door behind him. I felt the tears well up in my eyes and allowed them to fall as I heard the crash of the door hitting the jam. I chewed on my bottom lip as my chin quivered. He always knew just what to say to hurt me the most. He was one of those people who knew as soon as you met them exactly the words that could make you crumble. It scared me. I had pushed him over the edge, and I deserved every word he'd said. I was being manipulative, and I was being spoiled, and I was being unfair. I sniffed and felt my stomach spasm as I set myself, rather poised into the chair. I swiped beneath my eyes with my fingertips, trying to wipe away the tears without destroying my make-up. I looked over to the sports page he had been reading when I walked in. "Mulder finishes off Reds," the headline read. I didn't follow baseball, I never had, but I picked up the paper and read the article about the Oakland A's anyway, simply to distract myself. Mulder certainly did finish off this red, that was for sure.  
  
****  
  
I had been in Death Valley for almost five days, not in the middle of the desert, but in the surrounding area, investigating a case. It was too damn hot to think, and all I could think about were the tears gathering in her eyes when I walked out of the office. I had done the unthinkable. I tore her heart out and smashed it. I could see it in her eyes. But she had driven me to my limit, and pushed me over the edge. I tried to defend myself to my conscience but it didn't do any good. I hadn't slept since leaving for that godforsaken place because every time I closed my eyes all I could see was her innocent face, looking as though every hope for the future she could muster had been shattered. I knew she would never forgive me, no matter what I did or how hard I tried I could never gain back the trust she had once given me. I picked up the paper to take my mind off of the heat, and off of her. It was the sports page and the first thing that caught my eye was a headline that boldly read, "Mulder tosses gem." I rubbed my sweaty face with sticky warm hands. She was my gem.  
  
****  
  
It had been a long week at the office without him, knowing that he was off in the hottest place imaginable in the middle of June, probably brooding in his rage. I was sure he would come back even more vengeful than he had left. The weekend was even longer. It was only Saturday night and I felt as though the days would never end. At work I could distract myself but here I had nothing. I couldn't help but spend my hours going over the list of men that I had driven away. There had only been two other men I had ever wanted as badly as I wanted Mulder, and I had managed to drive both of them away as well. There was Jessie, in eleventh grade, who was a senior and almost my friend. Two weeks before graduation I gave him a letter, confessing that I had loved him since the sixth grade, and he laughed. He was afraid of me and after graduation I never saw him again. Number two was in Med school. I actually got to date this one, and we were together for almost 3 years. I kept expecting him to purpose, although I insisted to all my friends my career was the most important thing to me then. One weekend the shit just hit the fan when I asked him about some other girl he had been on the phone with. He said he could not stand to be with a woman that insisted upon smothering him and couldn't see the importance of putting success before vanity. They had been the only two men I cared for as long as I'd cared for Mulder, and now I'd lost number three. I stared at the glow emitted by my laptop, drawn to it like a bug. A pop-up ad appeared as I waited for a page to load. Before I had a chance to close it I saw, "Get your news now!" Below it was a list of headings, one of which was sports. "Mulder the best of the big three. Click here for more about the A's leading team."  
  
****  
  
My airplane landed just an hour from my apartment. I knew as the plane touched the ground that the flowers were in route to the office. It was a Tuesday afternoon, but it took me until sitting in the airport watching a man surprise his girlfriend with flowers as she deboarded for me to realized that flowers were the answer. Well, maybe not the answer, but at least a step.  
  
****  
  
Trying desperately to distract myself from my own conscience I turned on the radio and was flipping through the stations. A knock on the door had me off the seat next to the radio and to the door to the office. I opened the door to a deliveryman holding an arrangement of flowers. "Dana Scully?" I accepted the flowers and smiled. I opened the tiny card and read the note. "Scully, I'm very sorry about what happened last week. I couldn't imagine life without you, and this case alone reminded me how much I need you. I hope that you will forgive me for what I said and I hope you know that nothing, not even the x-files, are as important to me as you." I felt myself warm inside. "And that is a beautiful save by Mulder," the announcer said over the radio. I hadn't even noticed the game was playing over the speakers, but the A's were playing the Yankee's and there it was on my radio.  
  
****  
  
I walked into the office and saw her sitting there, the radio playing softly in the background and the bouquet of flowers on the corner of my desk where she was sitting. I cleared my throat to get her attention. "Hey you," she smiled. I smiled back and handed her the gift in my hands. She let a look of surprise spread across her face as she opened it up. I made a mental note to buy her presents more often, just to watch that face again. It was a like watching a little girl on Christmas morning. She was very pleased with the necklace I'd picked out at the mall on my way to work. It was a pearl held by three prongs and hung from a gold chain. I helped her clasp it around her neck and she gave me a hug, insisting that it wasn't necessary. I insisted that it was so she would always have a reminder of how important she is to me, no matter how much of an ass hole I might be.  
  
****  
  
I smiled at him and held onto his hand as he leaned against the desk beside me. I told him I felt bad about getting all this when I hadn't gotten him anything. "I can think of a way you can make it up to me." He grinned and raised his eyebrows suggestively. Now this was just a typical Mulder. He hadn't said anything that he was expecting to be rewarded with any more than a blush for. I stood from his chair and pressed my mouth firmly against his before he even had a chance to realize what was going on. But then he did. The nanosecond his brain computed that I was kissing him, his mouth was held just as tightly to mine, his tongue playing on my lips, waiting for them to part, and his hands were wrapped around me. I felt like I was melting as I let my mouth open to him. Every nerve was blurred and I could have sworn I shrunk two inches during that kiss.  
  
****  
  
She wasn't fighting back. When she kissed me I took it as an open door policy, but still thought I'd get slapped if I deepened it. She seemed to be cooperating; she seemed to be enjoying it. So, I slipped my hands down towards her butt and ran my fingers all over her. She made a tiny purring noise into me and I marked myself twenty points on the scoreboard in my mind. Her hands had slipped around me and her tiny arms were holding me to her, not warning me to pull my body from hers. When our mouths finally parted a smile appeared on her lips. It was almost as if she knew what I was thinking when she looked up at me and sighed, "Nice play." 


End file.
